


Family Among Worlds

by fieldoffantasies



Series: Once Scattered Amongst the Stars [1]
Category: Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieldoffantasies/pseuds/fieldoffantasies
Summary: In which Jarra actually contacts her parents at age 14.
Relationships: Fian Eklund/Jarra Tell Morrath, Jarra Tell Morrath & Gemena Ray Feren, Jarra Tell Morrath & Marack Tell Galad, Jarra Tell Morrath & Riak Torrek
Series: Once Scattered Amongst the Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903102
Comments: 24
Kudos: 10





	1. The Outline

**Author's Note:**

> So I began writing this, it sat partially started in my drive forever and I realized that I would probably never fully finish it. So I decided to release my outline which basically reads like 5 straight pages of headcanons as well as what I actually wrote (which really isn't much). I hope you enjoy and feel free to use any ideas you find in here because I would love to read them!

•Jarra doesn’t really make a conscious decision to, it more a spur of the moment on a dare thing  
•She definitely still tries to portal off world  
•Jarra hesitates at opening the information when it actually arrives but since Isette knows she requested it, she’s aware Issette will not lay off until she has at the very least basic information  
•Jarra’s initial reactions to the lack of information about her parents birth places being ‘Not Applicable’ stay the same and she follows pretty much the canon there  
•Per canon, as soon as she requests info telling her that her parents were military, she get two letters in her mail: version 1 of the benefits for military kids (since she’s under 18) and that she’s an honor child for Jarra Tell Morrath and the ceremony will be carried out once she’s 18  
•Jarra then does the information request to learn a bit more about her immediate family because she’s an honor child  
•Jarra does not contact her family right away - it takes her about a month, a lot of nagging from Issette, and the feeling that she’d at least tried to defy the universe by portaling off world even though it didn’t succeed  
•Jarra half thinks Issette’s nagging is because her own contact is going shakily on one end is non existent on the other and it’s honestly making Jarra even more nervous as she sees her friends being disappointed around her  
•From the familial information, she knows her parents didn’t do the standard thing Issette’s parents did (dump the kid, separate, and move) but she’s still really nervous  
•Jarra’s first contact with her parents is a very short, tense mail basically saying hi I’m your daughter Jarra. I hope you respond. Bye.  
•Her parents are thrilled. They didn’t expect contact for another 11 months because they knew that Earth kids could contact their families at 14 and by everyone else’s version of birthdays Jarra is still only 13 but they are thrilled that she actually contacted them  
•They send a carefully worded but excited message back to Jarra basically saying they’re thrilled to hear from her and asking to call when they’re available  
•Jarra says yes  
•During their call, they explain to Jarra the circumstances around her birth per canon, learn a bit about Jarra, and ask if they can visit her once they’re able to hand the planet they’re on over to someone else and maybe they could call her once or twice a week in the meantime so they could get to know each other depending on how chaotic it is on planet first at any particular time?  
•It takes until May for Jarra’s parents planet to be stable enough for a handover in command, in the meantime they talked a lot and got to learn about each other  
•Jarra learns a ton about her family, Betan clans, and a bit of the Betan dialect  
•Unknown to Jarra, the Tell clan starts implementing a plan to establish a military base on Earth because reasons  
•Their arguments include: it’s the center of the spheres of humanity, it has 5 solar arrays and a bunch of military personnel, what better place to have a extra place to get into test planet first situations than a planet with people that has never been through planet first, and a small mention of dig sites and impact suit training and having a local military establishment just to make sure would be great. Also, military parents who have handicapped kids could ask to be reassigned there so they could keep their kid (so there wouldn’t be repeat Jarra’s).  
•Between the Tell clan and their military allies they manage to get what they want and Jarra’s parents are not so coincidentally put in command  
•The base in White Sands because I want some parallels to canon (other places were considered, there was definitely advocated for locations closer to Jarra, but military command chose White Sands)  
•Meanwhile, Jarra’s first in person meeting with her parents goes great  
•This leads to even more meetings and they start dragging along various family members so Jarra can meet them  
•Marack manages to convince Riak to come meet Jarra as soon as he can get leave and they get along great after initial awkwardness  
•Jarra meets both of her siblings and while it’s tense for a long while, they eventually figure each other out  
•Once Jarra hears her parents will be permanently stationed on Earth she is ecstatic  
•Jarra’s friends are happy for her but also slightly concerned because Jarra is very like her family members and does Earth need more chaotic entities on it  
•Candace and Jarra’s parents meeting and Candace being like Jarra being Jarra is definitely genetic  
•Candace learning that Jarra is descended from Tellon Blaze and being like this has been engraved in their DNA since the beginning of time  
•Jarra has her presentation ceremony on her actual 14th birthday (all available Tell clan members attend along with all of Jarra’s friends, Candace, and her school history teacher)  
•Jarra changes her name to Jarra Tell Feren like she was born with  
•Jarra casually portals to America North very very often to see her parents  
•Jarra slipping into classes at the military school for kids her age because she wants to learn unarmed combat and everything else the rest of the military kids do because it’s all totally zan and definitely something Jarra enjoys  
•Jarra’s ProDad is pushed firmly out of the picture especially once Jarra’s parents establish how useless he is  
•Really there is a background Tell clan plan to make the entire board of hospital earth fear them once they start hearing stories about Jarra’s childhood - and if that doesn’t work they’re using their connections to plot a takeover of it and really no one is going to stop them  
•The Tell clan being utterly terrifying to anyone who gets on their collective bad side  
•When Jarra and Drago meet everyone collectively tenses up because they’re both insane about flying and once Jarra is old enough to get her license they really do not want to be in the air against those two  
•When Jarra turns 17 and can actually get her pilots license, everyone is extremely relieved Drago is on assignment on planet K21228 with Riak so he can’t teach Jarra himself  
•Drago and Jaxon teach Jarra everything she needs to know for her pilot’s exams between the two of them well before the Summer of 2788 so there’s no panic studying and the whole situation with Cathan doesn’t happen  
•Jarra still loves Defenders  
•Gradin is still 0% appreciative of Jarra’s existence  
•Once Drago is on leave he comes to interfere in Jarra’s flying lessons because he’s Drago Tell Dramis and he does what he wants  
•Gradin is also 0% appreciative of Drago’s existence  
•Valeska Orlova is very amused  
•Jarra still applies for University Asgard because she kinda wants to see what norms are like outside the Military but applying to a Betan school would lead to five billion nardle questions about why she didn’t go straight into the military like the rest of her clan and would just straight up be more complicated socially because she’s part of the Gentes Maiores  
•Everyone is like seriously Jarra but shrug and move on with their lives because it’s the Tell clan what can you do  
•Dannel Playdon still does not appreciate threatening notes in student apps  
•Jarra definitely keeps her backstory as my family is military going into class except now she has better answers and explanations for questions about her personal life  
•Playdon still challenges Jarra’s military knowledge until she answers a call from Drago complaining about something vaguely (because it’s Zeta sector and classified) and then everyone’s like yeah JMK is definitely accurate  
•Playdon is still confused on how a military kid applied to the course via an Earth school the was not the one in White Sands  
•Jarra is definitely ignoring the awkward Betan social situation with Lolia and Lolmack and as soon as they tried to treat her differently she cornered them away from everyone else and was like please do not blow my cover here  
•Lolia and Lolmack do so because you definitely want to be on the good side of the Tell clan  
•Fian is definitely still very attracted to Jarra and she doesn’t freeze him off but still keeps delaying signing up for a twoing contract which confuses Fian  
•Jarra eventually breaks down partially and explains about her family being Betan and military and about Betan Courting Contracts  
•This makes sense to Fian but he’s Deltan and she’s Betan so it does get awkward for a little bit  
•Meanwhile, Jarra still has not told Fian she’s handicapped because Jarra and feelings are not a thing and she doesn’t want to hurt her relationship with Fian  
•Dig Site things stay mostly the same except Jarra doesn’t have her parents calling her in the middle of the dig site because they can do it after dinner like normal people because they’re in the same time zone  
•The class finds out Jarra is Betan when they catch her talking to Lolia and Lolmack about being Handicapped herself in the Betan dialect after they announce it to the whole class  
•The class is like totally shocked and Lolmack is like you didn’t put two and two together and realize that Tell in her name means she’s related to Tellon Blaze who was Betan?  
•And everyone is totally grazzed both by the Telllon Blaze was Betan?!?!!?and Jarra’s related to him and also like we know nothing about Betan society how were we supposed to know that  
•It’s about a week after that that Jarra finally tells Fian she’s Handicapped. She does not do this at the Asgard 6 dome. She takes Fian to a zoo so that if he says something stupid no one else in the class will hear it  
•Asgard 6 is used to Jarra just leaving whenever she feels like it in the evening to visit her parents in White Sands  
•Because there are people around in the military that possess an awareness of Jarra’s actual birthdate, she doesn’t have the Honor Child Ceremony until August  
•After Fian reacts decently well to the news, Jarra actually manages to announce it to the class so there is no chance of her walking through interstellar portals like a nardle brained idiot  
•There is no bullying because two glaring military officers in the dome once they heard Jarra was going to make this announcement pretty much deterred everyone from unnecessary impolite comments and definitely proved restricted access was no barrier to them if anyone acted against their daughter  
•Playdon doesn’t know whether to be exasperated or amused  
•The Carrington Event still happens, Jarra and Fian still go visit Cassandra 2, except Jarra’s plan after that is to go to the White Sands Base but they don’t make it because the Portal Network shuts down early  
•They do not sign up for a twoing contract in the middle of the solar storm because they’re already dealing with betrothal contract arrangement stuff from Jarra’s clan  
•No argument because Jarra doesn’t have a giant secret anymore  
•When asked if she knows anyone up in the Solar Arrays Jarra does because she’s been bugging the military assigned to Earth the last 4 years of her life because her parents  
•Because Marack was not stuck on a bad planet first mission, Riak actually manages to retire when he planned to and decided to retire to Earth because that’s where his family is  
•Someone else is commanding the Earth solar arrays but they still have to crash land from space  
•But the ships that can actually aim for White Sands have designated foamed up swathes of desert helpfully created since there is a convenient military base there (Solar 3 still has issues)  
•Solar 5 still crash lands in New York and that goes mostly the same  
•Everyone is very concerned about Jarra in the hospital and she wakes up to a bunch of concerned family members, Candace, and Fian  
•When the Alien sphere appears, the delay from the pre-empts isn’t as bad as they don’t have to build a military base from scratch but there is still a lot of movement of equipment and personnel because now they need to expand  
•Riak was hanging out with Marack when this happens and accidentally gets forcibly un-retired due to chaos and proximity  
•Riak is not exactly thrilled about this development though he is happy to see some people that they pulled in again  
•“I was here for a nice, quiet retirement and then this happens”  
•Drago, Marlise, Nia Stone, and Mason Leveque are all there  
•TBH I have no idea how the chain of command would work but I love them all  
•They want as many of the best people there as possible so let’s go with an extensively senior chain of command  
•While this is all happening Jarra tried to pop in like normal and encounters problems because the Alien Contact problem is Code Black and Jarra’s like nuking hell what’s going on because no one told Jarra to maybe not randomly pop in for a bit  
•Jarra gets to take security oaths because that’s what happens when you stumble into top secret things  
•Eventually someone goes what military recruitment age? This is alien contact and we can do what we want. Our history team is useless rn and we know exactly one person studying history who we actually trust and then they throw Jarra in there because they already know and trust her  
•TBH IDK how alien contact would change with Jarra’s parents in the mix probably not too much in like the basic aspects but Jarra would have some actually influential moderating force in her life  
•Definitely some parental influence in the you are not going into the alien tunnel because you are technically not of age to be military end  
•A lot of the Earth Flight drama doesn’t happen because Jarra’s already been presented to her clan  
•Jarra and Fian’s betrothal ceremony happens somewhere in all of this but like in August because that’s when Jarra actually turns 18 and so Fian isn’t awkward and uncomfortable about it  
•Keon still gets arrested by Raven  
•Jarra still manages to get off Earth but there’s a lot more drama because trying to distract everyone in the Tell clan at Zulu base at once is all but impossible  
•Jarra isn’t as uncomfortable with the military stuff because she’s had four years to absorb it instead of like a month  
•Dannel Playdon is not so seriously debating quitting as a lecturer after Jarra’s year because that group of students has seriously aged him and then he gets the opportunity to lead one of the Fortuna teams and he’s like my life will never be normal again  
•Dalmora, Krath, and Amalie are still some of Jarra’s closest friends  
•As soon as Jarra had her civilian pilot’s license, Drago totally started her on the fighter pilot simulators and training and continued that when Jarra was there for alien contact because he could

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you might be able to tell, this is well thought out until the beginning of Earth Star and then it definitely is not afterwards.


	2. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is what I actually got written. As you can tell, it's not much and has not been edited.

Every Earth kid knows that on their fourteenth birthday they can do two things. First, we can request information about our parents. Next, we can choose to make one attempt to portal off world. Pretty much everyone chooses to do the first option and very few decide to take the second. As Year Day 2785 was coming up, all my friends in Next Step were anticipating the opportunity to know who their parents were. Hoping that their parents would be the dream of not wanting to give them up as babies and suddenly having an actual family like we all saw on vids. It was every Handicapped kid’s dream. Personally, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to contact my parents. They had abandoned me on Earth as a baby and I was not about to let them put me through more pain by having the exos reject me again. Contacting parents ended in pain for most Handicapped. 92% of parents abandon us as babies and very, very few tend to regret that decision for long enough to get to know us. So while I wasn’t planning on contacting my parents due to my unresolved anger towards them, I did plan on taking my one chance to portal off world. To see if the doctors had maybe made a mistake when I was born. To see if I was truly trapped on Earth. To maybe prove to my parents that they were wrong to abandon me.

~~~

As soon as the Year Day countdown had finished, we’d all sang Old Lang Zine, and everyone had told me to be quiet after trying to tell them that it was nearly a millennia old, my friends were all at their lookups trying to request information about their parents. We were fourteen now and old enough to request it. The only one not desperately tapping in authorization codes was Keon who had decided that it was too much effort to be bothered in looking up information about parents that didn’t want him anyways. I was putting in my request to portal off world in a controlled environment. To maybe, one day, see the stars of another world. “Jarra! Jarra! Jarra!” My best friend Issette came bouncing over to me, acting powered on Year Day cheer and the fact that she’d just been able to call the Registry to request information on her parents. She wouldn’t actually receive the information for another three days and neither would anyone else. They waited three days so that anyone who made the decision to get the information didn’t do so on a whim and come to immediately regret it. “Did you send in your request?” I nodded back. “Yes I sent in a request.” Issette’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you send in a request for information about your parents?” Issette and I along with everyone else in our age group at Next Step had known each other since we were in diapers. Unfortunately, this meant that she definitely knew that I was hiding something from her. “No?” I grimaced. Issette’s glare was threatening me for more information. “I sent in a request to take my one chance to portal off world.” “You what!” Issette’s screech attracted the attention of all our friends still in the room. “That is a terrible idea Jarra! If you’re crazy enough to do that, why didn’t you request parental info?” “Because I have no interest in getting to know the people who abandoned me.” Issette snorted. “Yes but I thought since you are history mad you’d want to know your own family history. Maybe you’re related to someone famous back in prehistory. At the very least if you manage to go back in time and strangle Wallam Crane on the day he was born you might know who to avoid to prevent accidentally wiping out your own existence.” “Fine.” Slowly, I called the Registry, typed in the code, and verified my identity so that they would send information on my history and on my parents to me in three days time. Because even through my resentment, I still wanted a claim to family.

~~~

Three days later, nearly everyone had told me that attempting to portal off world was a terrible idea. Even my ProDad who I hadn’t talked to in two years had forced me to meet with him so he could go on record saying that it was a terrible idea. Many had reiterated it multiple times attempting to get me to change my mind. One of the few who hadn’t said anything to me yet was Keon - though he probably thought it was too much effort. But tonight, tonight was when everyone’s parental information would arrive. Everyone except Keon was staying up late to look at theirs. Keon would be doing whatever Keon did late at night because he maintained that learning about his parents was too much effort. I was still on edge about opening mine. While I didn’t want to give the exos the chance to abandon me again, Issette would interrogate me about it and she was right - I was obsessed with history though I normally didn’t include my own in that. Even if my ancestors were part of what I learned about in class, their descendants had still abandoned me.

**Author's Note:**

> So as you might be able to tell, this was pretty planned out through the beginning of Earth Star and then it totally wasn't


End file.
